OUT OF AFRICA there is always
something bad. Sub-Saharan Africa is a stain on the advanced world's
conscience. Even those of us who scorn the masochism and hatred of their own
societies, which leads many liberals to blame the West for all of Africa's
problems, must find it unacceptable that so many people live brief and
wretched lives: are denied any share in the generous possibilities of the
human condition. Africa is also in fashion. Politicians are
talking about it, especially when they are fighting general elections, or
Labour leadership ones. Yet it is right that Africa is now on the agenda,
even if it arrived there by dubious means.

The
West must help, but we cannot solve all of Africa's problems. There must
also be efforts by Africans. No aid programme could work without local
cooperation and it needs a moral co-operation as well as a practical
one.

Which brings us to the imminent Zimbabwean elections.
Though this will not be the first time that a regime has stolen an election,
there has never been a more blatant act of theft. Yet Thabo Mbeki, the
President of South Africa, has said that the elections will be free and
fair.

In any fair election, Robert Mugabe would be blown
away. The Movement for Democratic Change and its brave leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, would win an overwhelming victory. Mugabe knows that, which is
why the elections will be run by the army with members of his own militia -
the so-called national youth service - at the polling stations to "assist"
voters.

There will be widespread intimidation and
brutality. If that does not work, the ballot boxes will be stuffed. Those
who count the notes are under Mugabe's control. They will know what to do.
It will be a monstrous perversion of freedom, law, democracy and hope. Yet
where are the protests from other African countries?

Mr
Mbeki seems to speak for all his fellow sub-Saharan leaders. Their argument
appears to be that, as Mugabe helped to free his country, he should now be
allowed to wreck it. Thus millions of people are condemned to suffering; a
country which should be rich is condemned to poverty.

If
Africa cannot get Zimbabwe right, how can we trust it to get anything right?
African leaders must realise that failure to denounce Mugabe is bringing
discredit on them, their countries and their continent.

Trudy Stevenson, who is fighting to retain the Harare
North seat in the poll, was arrested together with her son and five other party
supporters for distributing election fliers at a traffic junction in Harare. She
was charged under the Miscellenous Offences Act for “obstructing traffic”.

Stevenson said she was detained for six hours and was
only released after paying an admission of guilt fine to avoid spending the
Easter Holiday in police custody.

“I am dismayed that we are being refused the space to
campaign freely. The police were stung by the popularity of the whole campaign
strategy,” said Stevenson.

A police officer at Borrowdale police station
confirmed the arrests but referred further questions to police spokesman Wayne
Bvudzijena who could not be reached for comment.

TRUDY Stevenson . . . the police were stung by the campaign
strategy

Scores of MDC candidates have been arrested in
the last two months in a crackdown by the police against the main opposition
party ahead of the March 31 election.

Meanwhile, there was chaos in Harare yesterday as
police openly aided ZANU PF youths to force private transport operators to stick
the ruling party’s campaign posters on their vehicles in the city centre.

Under new electoral regulations political parties and
candidates are prohibited from putting up posters on buildings and other
property without permission from owners.

A ZimOnline news team witnessed three police officers
and a group of ZANU PF youths moving around several termini threatening commuter
bus drivers with arrest if they refused to let the ruling party youths put their
posters on their vehicles.

"You should be grateful that we are only asking you
to stick this poster. Your car is defective and we can impound it right now. We
will arrest you with conduct likely to disturb public peace if you don't
comply," our news crew heard one of the policemen shouting at one commuter bus
driver.

The driver later told our reporters: "Uku kwave
kubatana chibharo manje.” (This is more or less like rape. They are violating
our rights).

The Africa Commission on Human and People’s Rights
accused the police in a report on human rights violations in Zimbabwe,
officially released earlier this year, of applying the law selectively in favour
of ZANU PF. - ZimOnline

FEATURE: Political prostitutes or new vibrant 'Third
Force'?Fri 25 March 2005 BULAWAYO - About 50 people mill around
aimlessly at the 20 000-seater White City stadium in Bulawayo's Luveve
high-density suburb.

They are here to attend the much publicised
inaugural rally for the new coalition of independent candidates, formed from
the ashes of the candidates' shattered political dreams in Zimbabwe's two
main political parties.

Most of the shabbily dressed youths,
who had bothered to come appear totally distraught, mumbling something about
the lack of seriousness on the part of the organisers.

Some
attribute the rally's spectacular flop to painful birth-pangs common with
all political party "projects" and a few to sabotage by President Robert
Mugabe feared secret service agents. Whatever the youths conclude, something
appears definitely not right here.

Dismissed information minister
and Mugabe's propaganda tsar Jonathan Moyo, who is rumoured to be the brains
behind this "Third Force", is nowhere near here. Word has it that he is away
in Tsholotsho, 150km (?) away, in a frantic bid to snatch the highly prized
Tsholotsho seat from the jaws of the MDC.

What had appeared a
triumphant launch of a new political force to challenge ruling ZANU PF
hegemony seems to have fallen flat on its face.

Liberation war hero
Margaret Dongo, the "Iron Lady" of Zimbabwe's politics, who is said to be
part of the group, has also failed to turn up.

The rest of the
network's members are political rejects from ZANU PF and the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), who were denied the chance to represent their
parties in next week's election.

While the United States has made
reference to "a coalition of the willing" to effect regime change in rogue
states, this new coalition - the Independent Candidates Supporters Network -
says it wants to rewrite Zimbabwe's political script.

Network
co-ordinator, Sikhumbuzo Ndiweni told Zimonline earlier this week that the
coalition, made up of 16 independent candidates, was here to stay. "It's a
'third force' in the sense that we want the presence of independent
candidates to be felt. We are helping them with everything that we can so
that they can make an impact."

But analysts say this outward
bravado and confidence masks serious flaws in the network, so common with
political marriages of convenience.

They point to the lack of
cohesion and a clear political ideology, with coalition members only unified
by their strong hatred of ZANU PF and the MDC and the desire for personal
political glory.

Bulawayo-based political commentator George
Mkhwanazi, had no kind words for the independents.

"The network
is a group of aggrieved people in their respective parties who were denied
space and are now seeking a way out to realise their personal ambitions.
They are an impatient lot and have no unifying ideology," said
Mkhwanazi.

Equally scathing in its attack is the MDC which says the
independents want to play the role of spoilers, splitting votes in favour of
the ruling party.

"These independents are all power hungry,
there just to spoil things. The real battle is between the MDC and ZANU PF.
None of the independents is going to win a single seat in Bulawayo," said
MDC information and publicity secretary for Bulawayo province, Victor
Moyo.

Moyo said the network is "too tribal in its approach to have
a national impact as a political force."

But independent
candidate Leonard Nkala, a former ZANU PF official who is standing for the
Mpopoma-Pelandaba constituency in Bulawayo said while the independents may
fail to make an immediate impact next week, their role is to act as a
watchdog of society, barking if necessary to make their presence
felt.

Nkala said: "A barking dog even if it does not bite, scares
away intruders . . . some dogs bark, some howl and others just
whimper."

Bulawayo councilor Stars Mathe who was expelled from the
MDC after opting to stand as an independent says if elected, the
independents will seek to make Parliament more accountable to the
electorate. "With the Third Force, the Parliament of Zimbabwe will be very
hot."

But the electorate appears unmoved by the new gospel peddled
by these political prophets.

Linda Mthimukhulu, of Bulawayo,
says Zimbabweans should not take these "political prostitutes", who have
been hopping from one party to another, seriously. "They are a very confused
lot and should be ignored."

The government, which appeared to have
been taken aback by the speed with which these independents were moving, has
threatened to crack the whip against the network. A fuming Vice-President
Joseph Msika, last month threatened to come down hard on the network over
its source of funding.

But Ndiweni remains unfazed. He said: " We
have nothing to hide. In any case, it is not a crime to start a political
party.

"Fear has been used as a weapon for too long to silence
dissenting voices but we will not give in to fear. We are going ahead with
our plans," declared Ndiweni. - ZimOnline

FEATURE: No chance for free and fair poll for a cowed
nationFri 25 March 2005 HARARE - From his Pretoria office, thousands of
kilometers from Zimbabwe, South African President Thabo Mbeki believes that
Harare's forthcoming elections will be free and fair.

And with
hardly a week into the country, the South African government observer
mission, in the country to observe next Thursday's election, repeated
Mbeki's claims.

But 60-year old Edina Shorishori, a Zimbabwean
villager who has had to live as a refugee for the past month, wonders how
next week's parliamentary election could be free or fair.

Shorishori spoke to ZimOnline from her secret location this week and painted
a gloomy picture of political intolerance in Zimbabwe.

"How can
anyone say the election will be free and fair when old people like me are
chased from our homes for supporting political parties of our choice?" she
said.

Shorishori fled for dear life last month from her rural
homestead in Ward 15, Zimunya on the outskirts of the eastern border town of
Mutare.

Ruling ZANU PF militia descended on her home and threatened
her with death. The local traditional leaders followed suit while Ministry
of Education officials barred her grandchild from benefiting from the Basic
Education Assistance Module, a government assistance programme for rural
children, because of suspicions that she supported the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

Shorishori admits
she knows little about international politics. But she is bitter that some
people could declare the election free and fair despite her
suffering.

"Maybe you don't see the things we go through when you
are a foreigner. But now because I am not at home, I won't be able to vote.
In fact, my worry is that I might never be able to go back home after the
elections if ZANU PF wins," she says.

Mbeki and his observer
team provoked the ire of the MDC and other independent observers by
declaring that Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections will be free and
fair.

But as Mbeki made these claims, many, like Shorishori were
fleeing from political violence.

An elderly man who refused to
give out his name for fear of victimisation said it was still a requirement
to produce a ruling party membership card to benefit from government
programmes such as food aid and education assistance.

"It's
very much the same," said the 56-year old man from Chigodora village in the
eastern province of Manicaland.

"The headmen still tells us that we
will not get assistance if we vote for the MDC and last week at a village
meeting, we were told that the government would be able to know if we voted
for the opposition. So without even being beaten physically, a lot of people
here are very afraid."

Lovemore Madhuku, the National
Constitutional Assembly chairman said there is no chance for Zimbabwe to
hold free and fair elections under the present conditions.

"Anyone who says that the elections will be free and fair is obviously not
on the ground and has not been monitoring the situation. Our analysis is
that the legal environment is still unfair. On the ground, acts of violence
and intimidation are still being recorded. The rush to legitimise these
elections is ill-timed," he said.

This week, the Law Society of
Zimbabwe added its voice to many complaining that the month end election
will not be free and fair: "The situation is not normal, nor is it conducive
for a free and fair election."

Welshman Ncube, the MDC secretary
general said Mbeki and his government were grossly ill-informed on the
situation in Zimbabwe.

"We don't understand their ignorance about
the situation here. The position adopted by the South African government is
not only misinformed but dangerously premature."

The MDC
threatened not to co-operate with the South African government observer
mission because of the group's biased views on the polls unless they
apologised. The South Africans have since mended relations with the
MDC.

But as the debate over whether conditions do exist for a
free and fair election in Zimbabwe, Shorishori is pondering her future. She
says both her life and that of her grandchild are in jeopardy because of an
intolerant political system. - ZimOnline

Mugabe victory won't solve economic mess: think-tankFri 25
March 2005 HARARE - An expected decisive victory by President Robert Mugabe
and his ruling ZANU PF in next Thursday's general election will not lead to
a resolution of Zimbabwe's long drawn political and economic crisis, the
Economic Intelligence Unit has said.

Instead Zimbabwe's
battered economy will continue declining although at a slower rate of 3.1
percent this year and 0.5 percent in 2006, the EUI said in a report released
this week.

"It appears increasingly unlikely that the parliamentary
elections scheduled for March 31 will lead to resolution of the country's
ongoing political and economic crisis," the influential EUI said in the
report.

The group said an expected endorsement of Mugabe and ZANU
PF's victory in the March 31 poll by the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) would help the Zimbabwean leader gain firmer political
ground against his opponents.

A two-thirds majority victory,
which the EUI said it expected ZANU PF to win, would allow Mugabe powers to
amend Zimbabwe's Constitution to pave way for an exit from power on his own
terms.

The EUI said it expected Mugabe to remain in office until
expiry of his current term in 2008 but said the Zimbabwean leader will use
the period between now and the next presidential election to groom a
successor.

The economic thinktank said: "We expect that the ruling
Zimbabwe National Patriotic Front, (sic) will win a decisive majority in the
parliamentary polls and that Mr. Mugabe will seek to remain in office until
his term expires in 2008, when he will be 84.

"As ZANU PF is
likely to secure a more than two-thirds majority in parliament at the
election, Mr. Mugabe will be in a position to make constitutional changes he
wants from a position of political strength."

The EUI said it
expected Mugabe's chosen heir to begin economic reforms as well as mending
bridges with the international community but the groups warned the process
will be slow. It said: "The process will be drawn out and any changes in
economic policy incremental . . . as a result, although we expect the
economic decline of recent years to slow, real GDP is still forecast to
contract by 3.1 percent in 2005 and 0.5 in 2006."

Zimbabwe has for
the last five years grappled its worst economic crisis ever, blamed on
mismanagement by Mugabe and his government and their farm seizure policy
that estranged the southern African nation from the international
community.

The International Monetary Fund cut off
balance-of-payments support to Harare in 1999 over differences on fiscal
policy, human and property rights.

The European Union, United
States, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland and Australia slapped targeted
sanctions in 2002 against Mugabe and his top officials for failure to uphold
the rule of law, democracy and human rights.

Mugabe's chaotic and
often violent land reforms destabilised the mainstay agricultural sector
causing a fall in farm production of about 60 percent to leave once food
exporting Zimbabwe dependent on international food aid
agencies.

The Zimbabwean leader however denies his policies are
responsible for economic decline and food shortages in Zimbabwe instead
blaming Western nations of sabotaging the economy as punishment for Harare's
seizure of white farmland for redistribution to landless blacks. -
ZimOnline

Mugabe pledges to revive collapsed factoriesFri 25 March
2005 BULAWAYO - President Robert Mugabe told supporters here that his
government was working on reviving factories that collapsed under a hostile
operating environment ironically blamed by many on Mugabe and his ruling
ZANU PF party's polices.

Mugabe, who this week traversed the
opposition supporting Matabeleland region canvassing support for ZANU PF
candidates in the March 31 poll, told a rally at Mandwandwe High School in
Bulawayo that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was already working on a strategy
to resurrect collapsed firms.

Addressing about 2 000 people, most
of them school children, Mugabe said: "We are going to revive all companies
in Bulawayo, Harare, Gweru and Mutare, which shut down some years back. The
RBZ Governor, Gideon Gono, is working towards reviving the obsolete
factories and companies.

"Very soon he (Gono) will be visiting
Kwekwe, Kadoma and other towns and cities around the country where factories
and companies have been threatened with viability problems."

>From Mandwandwe, Mugabe addressed another campaign rally at Masotsha
High School also in the city.

Several thousand companies either
drastically scaled down operations or completely shut down shop due to a
harsh operating environment marked by hyper inflation, a fixed foreign
exchange rate, controls on prices of certain goods, political instability,
violence and a breakdown of the rule of law.

Some of the
companies were also forced to close by pro-Mugabe and ZANU PF militants who
accused their owners of backing the main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change party.

Most of the best
farmland seized by Mugabe ended up in the hands of his top lieutenants and
their relatives with most of the once productive farms hardly used while the
country faces an acute food shortage. - ZimOnline

Gasela, who is sitting Member of
Parliament for Gweru Rural constituency wanted Madubeko disqualified from
standing in the constituency claiming the ruling party candidate was a
traditional headman who is not allowed to seek political
office.

Under the Traditional Leaders Act, chiefs, headmen and
other traditional leaders are prohibited from contesting elections while
still occupying their posts

But Madubeko argued that he had
since relinquished the headman's post when he handed in his nomination
papers last month. - ZimOnline.

CHITUNGWIZA voters may be
relishing the almost once-in-a-lifetime chance of living without the stench
of raw sewage wafting into their dining rooms every day. But they should
pause for a moment: the government's announcement on Monday that it would
immediately release $2,5 billion to repair the sewage works must raise a
stink with them.

This is a naked political gimmick. What the
government ought to have done, if it was genuinely concerned about the
problem, was to quietly launch the repair programme without any fanfare. The
residents would then have appreciated the gesture without necessarily
associating it with political subterfuge.

But that is not
the Zanu PF way. The announcement was accompanied by accusations of the
MDC-dominated municipal council failing, in its five years in office, to
solve the stinking problem of the suburb. But not even the most
feeble-minded among the residents will forget why, in 2000, they threw out
all the Zanu PF councillors.

Since independence, the ruling
party had run the suburb, unchallenged. Reports of corruption gave the
suburb the reputation of being run like a Zanu PF-income generating project.
Development was at a standstill, more or less.

From 2000,
the municipality was controlled by the MDC. But, as with other local
authorities controlled by the opposition party, Chitungwiza's found itself
at perennial odds with the central government. Fortunately for the executive
mayor, Misheck Shoko, he did suffer the same fate as his counterpart in
Harare, Elias Mudzuri, who was ramrodded out of office by the Minister of
Local Government, Ignatius Chombo.

What might have saved
Shoko's political bacon could have been his impeccable war veteran
credentials. Incidentally, it was Chombo, on a visit to St Mary's and
Zengeza suburbs, who announced the sewage rehabilitation programme. The
government has announced the release of billions of dollars to help other
local authorities cope with the economic crisis created by the government's
own hare-brained, "tuckshop" policies.

These funds cannot be
intended for anything except to persuade voters in the urban centres, most
of them now controlled by the opposition party, to show their gratitude by
voting for Zanu PF on 31 March. But most voters are no longer that naive.
The reasons which turned them against Zanu PF in 2000
remain.

The party is still self-absorbed, still totalitarian,
still arrogant, still uncaring and still harbouring this great contempt for
the voters, remembering to respect them only at election time.

INSIZA - Villagers in
this rural constituency have denounced the government and the ruling Zanu PF
for denying them food in order to force them to vote for the ruling party in
next Thursday's parliamentary election.

The reports come in the
wake of President Robert Mugabe's assurances to Zimbabweans that no-one
would starve. Government had all along claimed it had registered a bumper
harvest last year but now admits that there is a serious food
shortage.

According to villagers interviewed during a visit by
the Daily News Online to the constituency this week, Zanu PF district
structures operating under the party's candidate for the area, Andrew Langa,
have given them two choices for their survival. They must either vote for
Zanu PF and get food relief or support the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and go without aid.

Asked for a
comment, Langa shouted at this reporter saying: "What has that got to do
with news? If there is no food that's our problem and not yours. Leave us
alone!" He then switched off his cellphone.

Most of the
villagers spoken to said they would rather die of hunger than back Zanu PF,
a party they have never supported in their lives.

Assa Sibanda
(83) of Dzhulube Village in Insiza told The Daily News Online that her life
was now in danger after Zanu PF officials in the constituency made it a
condition that villagers would only buy maize meal brought by the Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) if they supported Zanu PF.

"I challenged
our village head to explain to me if it was government policy to sideline
people who supported other parties besides Zanu PF," she said. "It was
unfortunate for me because the same village head, Thomas Mpofu, is the Zanu
PF district chairman for

Insiza whose committee is making the rules
for grain selling."

Mpofu, who is also Sibanda's son-in-law
after he married her eldest daughter, could not be reached for comment. This
reporter visited his homestead and only found his children who said he was
out campaigning.

A 50 kg bag of GMB maize grain was being sold
for $37 000. Villagers usually pay the money in advance to the village head,
who in turn controls the selling when the maize grain is finally
delivered.

Known and suspected MDC supporters who join in the
queues to receive their grain have been turned away after the Zanu PF
officials accused them of not supporting the ruling party.

Jeslia Sibanda (69), a disabled villager from Simwango area, castigated the
government for shutting out ORAP, a non-governmental organisation helping to
feed rural communities.

She said ORAP used to give elderly
villagers free food but the organisation was stopped from doing so after the
government accused the NGO community of undermining its authority and
working together with the MDC to effect regime change.

Other villagers said they have never supported Zanu PF in their entire life
as they supported PF Zapu, then led by the late national hero Joshua Nkomo,
during the liberation struggle.

"After the emergence of the
MDC, it was the only option because we have not benefited from any
government programmes here," Sibanda said. "What has become clear is that
the government has deliberately starved Zimbabweans in order to gain
votes."

Million Ndlovu (63) of Masiyepambili Ward in the
constituency said Langa's brother Vakatsha had been instrumental in the
discrimination of MDC supporters in the selling of GMB
maize.

Ndlovu said last Saturday, at a business centre in
Simwango village, Zanu PF officials with among them Langa's brother,
refunded several villagers accused of being MDC supporters their $37 000
paid for the purchase of the grain.

BULAWAYO -
Residents here have castigated the government for shifting boundaries of
parliamentary constituencies ahead of next Thursday's poll and afterwards
failing to adequately inform the affected residents.

In
interviews at Bulawayo's oldest township of Makokoba this week, residents
castigated the Zanu PF government for focusing on electoral victory at the
expense of good governance and developmental issues.

Sheila
Nkomo (52) of Makokoba high density suburb in Makokoba constituency told the
Daily News Online that they were bitter that the government, through the
Delimitation Commission which established parliamentary constituencies, had
misnamed their constituency.

"The government says we should be
voting as people in Makokoba constituency yet the Makokoba township is in
Bulawayo East constituency," Nkomo said.

"There is no place
in the whole constituency named Makokoba under the newly established
boundaries for the March 2005 parliamentary election. In 2000 and 2002 it
was clearer because the Makokoba constituency covered the traditional
areas."

The old Makokoba
constituency only covered Mzilikazi, Barbourfields, Makokoba, Thorngrove and
Nguboyenja.

Joyce Mpande (81) a widow in Mzilikazi suburb said
besides the electoral and political issues that affect them on a daily
basis, they faced serious food shortages.

"We have daily
problems throughout," Mpande said. "There is no hope for our lives because
our government has failed us for too long."

Some of the
residents that this crew interviewed were unaware of their constituencies as
they were confused over whether they should vote in Bulawayo East or in
Makokoba.

The situation in Bulawayo is similar to all areas
throughout Zimbabwe where the Delimitation Commission altered the
constituency boundaries. Harare and Bulawayo lost a constituency apiece in a
move widely seen as a rigging plot.

On Wednesday, President
Robert Mugabe was forced to announce through a Government Gazette that he
was correcting the boundaries of Kwekwe and Silobela constituencies after
receiving several reports of confusion among voters, according to
Wednesday's issue of the State-controlled Bulawayo-based Chronicle.

Notably three
laws - the Electoral Act, Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission Act - govern Zimbabwe's elections.The warning was
issued during a meeting, also attended by representatives of the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC).ESC chairperson, commissioner Theophilus Gambe
said: "It is important for observers to read and understand the code of
conduct before conducting their observation duties."The code requires
that the observers obey every lawful instruction of an electoral officer,
not to hinder or obstruct electoral officials in the lawful conduct of their
functions and not to wear any apparel spotting a prohibited symbol or
indicating an affiliation with a candidate or political party participating
in the poll among other provisions. Another issue discussed at the
meeting was the change in Zimbabwe's electoral legislation and compliance
with the Southern African Development Community principles and guidelines on
democratic elections.Gambe told the observers that change to the electoral
law had levelled the political field, widely perceived to tilt heavily in
favour of the status quo.He said issues such as the creation of the ZEC,
electoral court and access to the media by participating political parties
and individuals, had been provided for through legislation to bring the laws
into compliance with the regional guidelines and principles."The
creation of the ZEC has seen the conduct of elections being administered by
an independent body," he explained."The issue of access to the media has
substantially been addressed. Election petitions are now being dealt with by
an electoral court, which will enable.petitions to be dealt with faster than
in the old system."

The ESC said that observers must submit their
preliminary reports before the announcement of results.This was done in
response to previous negative experiences where some observers had issued
positive statements before the announcement of results and later issued
negative statements on the process after the announcement of results."It
is the hope of the ESC that you will conduct your observation duties
objectively and impartially, in a manner that will add to the peace and
democracy in Zimbabwe," Gambe said.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
invited a total of 32 foreign observer missions, while the Ministry of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs invited 8 500 local
observers.

Chairperson of the ZEC Justice George Chiweshe said ZEC was
ready for the election in all aspects.He said that preparations for the
poll were well on course, with all the 50 000 ballot boxes ordered having
been secured.Printing of ballot papers was almost complete, while ballot
boxes for those who voted through the post had been sealed in the respective
constituencies on March 18.Only the officials of the Zimbabwe Republic
Police, Zimbabwe Defence Forces and Ministry of Foreign Affairs working
outside the country were eligible to cast their votes through the postal
system.Chiweshe said processing of the votes in this category was going on
under the watchful eye of all the candidates.He said ZEC's National
Logistics Committee had also completed a countrywide assessment of the state
of preparedness to hold the poll."The National Logistics Committee has just
completed a week's tour of the country to assess the logistical state of
preparedness in the various provinces and constituencies. Indications are
that all preparations are on course," Justice Chiweshe said.The country
has held parliamentary elections after every five years since attaining
independence in 1980.Zanu PF won 62 seats in the June 2000 election against
its closest rival, the MDC, [item ends here]

MDC's seating MP for Mutasa and candidate for Mutasa North,
Evelyn Masaiti is bubbling with confidence ahead of the March 31
parliamentary plebiscites. As the MDC's top leadership descended on
Manicaland province last week, various campaign rallies, including one
addressed by party president Morgan Tsvangirai at Sakubva stadium, appear to
justify the opposition movement's claim that they will consolidate or even
increase the number of seats from the seven they won in 2000."Our
support base in Manicaland and indeed the rest of the country is growing
from strength to strength. Often, people ask me how I managed to win Mutasa
Consituency in 2000 against the perception, fast becoming a misconception,
that rural areas are Zanu PF strongholds.The people of Mutasa are in the
eastern part of the country, like the biblical wise men from the east, they
see the light first. Now the MDC is irresistibly making great inroads in
other rural areas countrywide," she said.Speaking at rally attended by
thousands of people at Hauna growth point in Honde Valley to drum up support
for Masaiti, the MDC national chairman, Isaac Matongo, who was part of a
high powered delegation that also included the MP for Mufakose, Paurina
Mpariwa, said " Now that there is no violence the MDC supporters should
speak much more loudly on March 31. Chiefs and headman should be impartial
and not threaten there subjects with punitive measures should they vote
MDC."

ZANU PF Manicaland Zanu PF held two
campaign meetings on March 21 at the following venues: Chitaboo Business
Centre in Mutare South constituency addressed by Filda Matanga, Zanu PF
Manicaland Provincial member; Mt Selinda High School in Chipinge North
constituency addressed by Zanu PF candidate for the constituency Morris
Sakabuya.

Another rally was held at Chikobvore Primary School in Makoni
West on March 23.It was addressed by the ruling party's candidate for
the constituency Joseph Made who urged the people to vote for Zanu PF in
order to preserve their sovereignty, as well as consolidate the gains of
independence.Made articulated the party's manifesto as well as outlining his
own programme of action for the constituency once elected into
Parliament.

Matabeleland South The ruling party on March 21 held
campaign meetings at the following areas: Mdlambuzi Business Centre in
Bulilima and Empandeni Mission in Mangwe addressed by Vice President Joseph
Msika; Pegama Primary School and Shangani Mine in Insiza addressed by the
party's candidate Andrew Langa; Gwandavale and Silozwe Business Centres, and
at Baru Farm in Matobo constituency addressed by the party's candidate
Ananias Nyathi; Sizeze Business centre addressed by Abigirl Damasane, the
party's candidate. On March 22 there were two more rallies at Chasvingo
Primary School in Beitbridge and at Pelandaba Stadium in Gwanda addressed by
President Robert Mugabe.At Chasvingo Primary School, Lloyd Siyoka, the
independent candidate for Beitbridge announced his withdrawal from
contesting the elections and rejoined Zanu PF. President Mugabe urged the
people at both rallies to vote resoundingly for the ruling party to bury the
MDC and its western handlers, emphasising that Zimbabwe will never be a
colony
again.

President
MugabeBulawayoZanu PF held two campaign meetings at Davies Hall in
Makokoba constituency on March 21, which was addressed by Sithembiso Nyoni,
the party's candidate for Bulawayo South.Another meeting was held at
Nkulumane and was addressed by Jabulani Sibanda, the former Zimbabwe
National War Veterans Association chairman. Sithembiso Nyoni in her address
outlined programmes she intends to embark on once elected, amongst the
development and equipping of schools as well as the financing of the
informal sector. She urged the people to vote for
her.

MDCHarareThe MDC held a campaign meeting on March 22 at
Chemhanza Ground in Tafara/ Mabvuku addressed by Tonderai Ndira, the MDC
Harare Provincial Security Officer and Tungamirai Mozalani, the Chizhanje
Ward Organising Secretary. Mozala told Mabvuku MDC youths that on March 24
they are to gather at Tafara Lucky Seven Shop to map out strategies for " a
door to door campaign." He said that the MDC needed to flex its muscles and
thoroughly beat Zanu PF.Another meeting was held at Chaminuka grounds in
Mbare constituency and was addressed by Gift Chimanikire, the party's
candidate for the constituency.

ManicalandThe MDC held three campaign
meetings at the following areas: Nyanyadzi Business Centre in Chimanimani
constituency and at Nyatate Business Centre in Nyanga constituency addressed
by the opposition party's leader Morgan Tsvangirai on March 20 and 21.
Another meeting as held at Rusape Park open Ground in Makoni East
constituency on March 22 and was addressed by Pishai Muchauraya, the party's
candidate for the constituency. In his addresses Tsvangirai promised that
his government would repossess land that was allocated to those from outside
Chimanimani and Nyanga and reallocate it to the local people. He urged the
people to vote for the MDC - New Ziana

Some commuter omnibus
drivers plying the City-Tafara/Mabvuku route were on Wednesday reportedly
assaulted by alleged Zanu PF youths who are said to have forced the drivers
to wear Zanu PF T-shirts and paste campaign posters on their
vehicles.According to one driver who spoke on condition of anonymity, the
youths numbering around twenty ambushed the drivers and conductors at one of
the main termini in Tafara."They came in the morning, just after the peak
hour when most of the kombis were parked and they started distributing Zanu
PF T-shirts, which they said we should put on.They also pasted some
campaign posters on the kombis and said we should not remove them until
after the elections. The youths assaulted two colleagues who had queried
their actions. We were all left dumbfounded by their behaviour," the driver
said, adding that the youths left some posters in some of the omnibuses and
instructed the drivers to distribute them to their colleagues.Police
spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said the police had not received any report of
such an incident. The police have repeatedly said they would not tolerate
any violence whatsoever in the run-up to Thursday's parliamentary
election.

By
Antoinette LazarusThe MP from Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), who was arrested while putting up party posters in Harare
today, has been released from custody.

Gertrude Stevenson and five
MDC youths were arrested during peak hour traffic this morning in the
upmarket suburb of Borrowdale while putting up election posters. They've
paid an admission of guilt fine of 25 000 Zim dollars each -
R250.

Wayne Bvudzijena, Zimbabwe's national police spokesperson, says
Stevenson and the youths were obstructing the free flow of traffic. He said:
"It's an offence to obstruct the smooth of traffic for whatever reasons. The
arrest has been recorded as a traffic offence but it is also politically
motivated because it is related to electioneering."

Bvudzijna has
stressed that police will arrest any other persons who commit the same
offence.

Zimbabweans go to the polls on March 31 to elect
parliamentarians in the election for the 120 contested seats in the
150-member parliament. Just under 5.8 million Zimbabweans are eligible to
vote this year.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's
fumbling bid to end Zimbabwe's political crisis is unlikely to see better
results after next week's Zimbabwean parliamentary polls, political analysts
say.

Miscalculations and mistakes have marked South Africa's
strategy toward its northern neighbour, leaving President Thabo Mbeki facing
an election outcome that could extend rather than extinguish Zimbabwe's
political stand-off, they say.

Mbeki is facing strident
criticism at home for not using South Africa's enormous economic muscle to
rein in Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who is widely accused of
misrule, vote rigging and repression of opponents.

The money is
now on Mugabe's ZANU-PF retaining control of parliament with a likely
two-thirds majority after the March 31 vote, not least because of his
constitutional right to appoint 30 members of the 150-seat
assembly.

That would give ZANU-PF the power to amend the
constitution, possibly placing legal curbs on the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) which has emerged as the most formidable challenge
to Mugabe's 25-year rule.

Such a result could add to pressure on
Mbeki, whose policy of "quiet diplomacy" has so far won little more than
cosmetic reforms from Mugabe, according to regional analysts.

ZANU-PF and South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) share a
common history of successfully battling white minority rule and have been
viewed in Africa as the anointed rulers of their respective
countries.

Many in southern Africa have been moved by Mugabe's
framing of the Zimbabwe issue, notably his seizure of white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless blacks, as part of social justice. Mugabe denies
charges of misrule and accuses Britain and the West of wanting him out
because of his land policies.

"Mbeki has been careful not to
antagonise those who sympathise with Mugabe's rhetoric," said Chris
Maroleng, analyst at Pretoria-based Institute for Security
Studies.

John Stremlau, professor of international affairs at
Johannesburg's Witwatersrand University, said Mbeki did not have good
options.

"A dream scenario is a government of national unity that
allows Mugabe to retire in dignity," Stremlau said. "The problem is how do
you go from here to there? It requires going through elections, but can you
have free and fair elections?"

The combative Mugabe has
declared that this month's election would "bury the MDC". He lampoons MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai as a puppet of former colonial ruler Britain, which
has led a push for international sanctions against Mugabe's
government.

Yet some close Mbeki aides are willing to bet that
ZANU-PF and the MDC would come together in a government of national unity --
as one said, "in a couple of years".

OUTMANOEUVRED BY
MUGABE?

But Maroleng said Mbeki's hopes for a unity government have
been shattered by the elevation of ZANU-PF hardliners following the party's
congress last December.

"South Africa's policy was largely
informed by an attempt to reform ZANU-PF from within," Maroleng
said.

Pretoria had concluded that Zimbabwe's military were very
partisan in favour of ZANU-PF and would block any change that brought the
MDC to power, he said.

"South Africa felt there was a need to
engage more forcefully with ZANU-PF so that progressive elements within the
party could dictate the dialogue," Maroleng added.

These
calculations were built around moderate ZANU-PF parliamentary speaker
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who until last December was regarded as a possible
successor to Mugabe.

But the plan backfired after Mugabe learned
that South Africa was trying to identify sympathetic factions within
ZANU-PF, analysts said.

Mbeki's spokesman Bekhi Khumalo dismissed
the alleged Mnangagwa link as "a conspiracy theory". "What South Africa
wants is a home-grown solution by the Zimbabweans," he said.

Be
that as it may, Mnangagwa and his supporters were stripped of key party
positions after the December congress.

They had banded together to
oppose Mugabe's choice of veteran ZANU-PF member Joyce Mujuru as second
vice-president, placing her in a position to succeed the 81-year-old
president who has hinted at retiring after his current term ends in
2008.

A number of key ZANU-PF officials close to Mnangagwa have
since been jailed after a swift trial on charges of passing official secrets
to a South African spy.

Should ZANU-PF win big in the coming
polls as expected, Mujuru's faction which includes hardliners from Mugabe's
Zezuru clan of the dominant Shona tribe will clearly be in the driving seat.
They do not look likely to brook any deal with the MDC.

NEW YORK, March 24, 2005 -- Upcoming parliamentary elections in
Zimbabwe face the likelihood of being severely compromised as repression
against the country's political opposition increases steadily, Freedom House
said today.

As the March 31 elections draw near, reliable reports have
emerged about a crackdown by the government of President Robert Mugabe and
by members and supporters of his ZANU-PF party. The restrictions are in
direct violation of many election protocols established by the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), to which Zimbabwe is a
signatory.

"As pressure mounts against Zimbabwe's already beleaguered
democratic opposition, it is imperative that the SADC member states clearly
remind Zimbabwe of its obligations in ensuring a fair and transparent
electoral process," said Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer Windsor.
"South Africa, as the region's largest and most influential democratic
nation, must play a leading role in this regard."

The SADC protocols
Zimbabwe has violated include: full participation of citizens in the
political process; freedom of association; equal access to state media for
all political parties; judicial independence and impartiality of electoral
institutions; a conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections;
and existence of updated and accessible voter rolls.

Government
authorities are reportedly withholding food aid from supporters of the main
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and ZANU-PF
members are said to be carrying out violent attacks against known MDC
supporters. Voter rolls are also said to be rigged, and the government has
further tightened restrictions on independent media, including access to
media coverage by members of the political opposition.

"Using food
aid as a political weapon is a particularly appalling tactic and tantamount
to a gross violation of human rights," said Ms.Windsor. "We encourage the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights, currently in session in Geneva,
to roundly censure the Mugabe regime for its assault on human rights and
democracy in Zimbabwe."

The Zimbabwean government has also barred several
international observer missions from entering the country to monitor the
elections, ensuring a virtual news blackout on March 31.

The
elections come exactly two years after Zimbabwe's last parliamentary vote,
which was also characterized by a violent crackdown on MDC supporters.

Mugabe may, however, find that his schemes are not destined to
work out

By Allister Sparks

With Zimbabwe's election only
a week away, the Mugabe government's strategy has become clear, writes
Allister Sparks. It is to allow freer electioneering than previously so as
to give the few friendly observer teams that have been allowed in a basis
for pronouncing it legitimate - but at the same time to rig the result in
less visible ways to ensure a Zanu PF victory. There is still widespread
intimidation of opposition candidates and voters; there is no equal access
to the state-owned media which even refuse to accept opposition
advertisements for meetings; the main opposition newspaper, the Daily News,
remains closed even though an appeal court judge has ruled that its licence
application should have been granted a year ago; Independent radio stations
are being jammed and foreign observers and correspondents have been barred
from the country on a highly selective basis - all of which violate SADC
guidelines for free and fair elections. But most election watchers,
including the opposition Movement for Democratic Change itself, acknowledge
that the MDC has been able to campaign more freely than at either the last
parliamentary election in 2000 or the 2004 presidential election. The MDC is
drawing thousands to its rallies, even in Zanu PF strongholds. Candidates
report a surge of support that exceeds anything they have experienced
before. By contrast, some Zanu PF rallies have been cancelled because of
poor turnout. Yet everyone expects Zanu PF to win.

The devil, as
the old saying goes, is in the details. In this case the details of a skewed
constitutional provision, a profoundly flawed voters' roll, the manipulation
of food distribution in starving rural areas, and how the count will be
handled on election night. Under the outdated Lancaster House constitution,
voters will elect only 120 of the 150 parliamentary seats. The president
will appoint the other 30. That means the MDC must win 76 of the 120 elected
seats, or a 63% landslide, to get a majority of one. Conversely, Mugabe
needs only 46 seats to win and 70 for a two-thirds majority. Worse still,
the voters' roll is hopelessly out of date. A sample study by an independent
group recently indicated that of Zimbabwe's 5,6-million registered voters
800 000 are dead, 300 000 are listed more than once and more than 900 000 do
not live at their recorded addresses. It takes little imagination to realise
how easy it will be for a ruling party, whose police and troops will be the
only electoral officers, to arrange for party loyalists to vote in the names
of those dead and missing voters - and for 300 000 of them to do so more
than once.

The paucity of election observers means this kind of
malpractice will go largely unchecked. So will the count, which will take
place through the night in 6 000 polling stations, many in poorly lit rooms
in remote rural areas. And even if the MDC lodges complaints, these can be
delayed indefinitely. The MDC has still had no response to 26 challenges
lodged after the 2000 election. Finally, there is the matter of buying votes
with food. People are starving in large parts of rural Zimbabwe, and MDC
officials report that they are required to present Zanu PF membership cards
to get food. It is a clever plan and will doubtless succeed in giving Mugabe
the victory he so desperately wants, perhaps even the two-thirds majority he
needs to amend the constitution to safeguard himself against any attempt to
drag him before an international tribunal for crimes against humanity should
he lose his presidential immunity one day. Mugabe's plan, some Zimbabwean
analysts believe, is to amend the constitution to enable him to declare
himself a constitutional president and appoint a faithful underling as prime
minister to run the country day-to-day. The hope is that this will be seen
as his de facto retirement, opening the way for an international community
desperate for an end to the Zimbabwe impasse to return and help the country
back on its economic feet.

It is a hope I suspect President Mbeki
shares, the ultimate objective of his long strategy of "quiet diplomacy".
But it could backfire. Machiavellian schemes have a way of going awry. Its
weakness is that it overlooks the single most significant factor in
Zimbabwe, which is mounting factional conflict within the ruling party over
the unresolved succession issue. Whatever the outcome on March 31, Zimbabwe
is likely to be more politically unstable after the election than at any
other time since Mugabe came to power 25 years ago. The centrepiece of the
looming conflict lies in a bitter personal rivalry between Solomon Majuru,
who commanded Mugabe's guerrilla army and later the Zimbabwe Defence Force,
and Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of Parliament and once Mugabe's favoured
son whom many (Mbeki included) thought would be his anointed successor.
Majuru, now retired but still with enormous influence over the armed forces,
appears to have used that influence to force Mugabe's hand into blocking
Mnangagwa. Mugabe got the party's politburo to name Majuru's wife, Joyce
Majuru, rather than Mnangagwa, to fill a key vice-presidential vacancy at
the party's national congress in December.

When Mugabe's most
capable propagandist and dirty-tricks specialist, Jonathan Moyo, tried to
outmanoeuvre the president by organising a secret meeting of regional Zanu
PF leaders in support of a Mnangagwa candidacy for the key vice-presidential
post, which if successful would have made him the clear heir apparent,
Mugabe found out about it and fired Moyo. Moyo is now running as an
independent candidate in his Matabeleland constituency, and is talking of
forming what he calls a south-south alliance between his Ndebele people and
Mnangagwa's Karangas, who together constitute 41% of the Zimbabwe
population. The Karanga people, the largest of the Shona sub-groups who
jointly dominate Zimbabwe politics, are collectively disgruntled. They have
been sidelined in favour of Mugabe's - and Majuru's - smaller Zezuru clan in
the allocation of key jobs. The president, the two-vice-presidents, the
minister of defence, chief of the defence force, chief of the army, chief of
the air force, the commissioner of police, the chief justice and the
judge-president are all Zezurus.

Six provincial chairmen who attended
the meeting with Moyo have also been suspended and struck from the list of
candidates for the election. They represent 60% of Zanu PF's provincial
leadership and form a formidable constituency of disgruntled figures with
grassroots support whom Moyo will doubtless try to mobilise behind Mnangagwa
and his putative south-south alliance. Finally, the notorious War Veterans
Association, once the blunt instrument of Mugabe's politics of intimidation
who played a key role in the previous two elections, are also disenchanted.
Mugabe recently fired their elected chairman, Jabulani Sibanda, after he
complained that commercial farms seized from whites were being given to
Mugabe's cronies rather than to war veterans as promised. They are nowhere
to be seen in this campaign. All this spells trouble for the ageing Mugabe
and his geriatric and fractured party which is devoid of intellectual
capital and with no line of succession in preparation for the old man's
inevitable departure. The post-election phase is where the real drama
lies.

Robert Mugabe has accused his former information
minister of plotting a military coup against him.The Zimbabwean
president vowed to "demolish" Jonathan Moyo while campaigning for his
Zanu-PF party ahead of next week's parliamentary elections.

"He did a lot
of terrible things," Mr Mugabe told 3,000 supporters at a rally in Mr Moyo's
hometown of Tsholotsho, the state newspaper, the Herald, reported
yesterday.

Earlier this month Mr Moyo drew a larger and more enthusiastic
crowd in support of his candidacy in the March 31 poll. The former
information minister was sacked from the ruling party for spearheading an
internal challenge to the president last December.

Mr
Mugabe said he and his vice-president, Joyce Mujuru, had met Mr Moyo last
month.The president told the rally: "We asked him why he went to meet
[army commander General Philip] Sibanda, whether he wanted to stage a coup
in his favour, and tears started flowing down his cheeks."

Mr Mugabe
continued: "The whole machinery of the party will fall on you and you will
get demolished. You can never win against Zanu-PF."

As information
minister, Mr Moyo was one of Mr Mugabe's most powerful deputies, acting as
his spin doctor, particularly in the war of words with Britain. He drew up
harsh media laws used to close four newspapers and charge nearly 100 local
and foreign journalists.

Now Mr Moyo is defying his former boss, the most
visible sign of the bitter rivalries within Zanu-PF, where ethnic divisions
have come to the fore in the succession struggle.

The 81-year-old
president's claims of a coup plot mark a new low for Mr Moyo, who was
unavailable for comment yesterday. Mr Mugabe has often accused rivals of
treason, most recently the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change,
Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsholotsho is in the opposition heartland of
Matabeleland, an area hostile to Mr Mugabe since his bloody crackdown of a
local rebellion in the 1980s. Some 20,000 civilians in Matabeleland were
killed by Mr Mugabe's North Korean-trained troops, according to human rights
reports.

The president has been struggling to raise support at rallies
across the country. Last week he admitted to a gathering of visibly hungry
villagers that the country was experiencing food shortages. He promised that
his government would provide food and would not let them down. The crowd
appeared unmoved.

He also conceded that only 44% of the land seized
from white farmers was being cultivated - one of the main reasons that
Zimbabwe, once known as "the breadbasket of southern Africa", has faced
severe food shortages for the past three years.

Ordinarily food
shortages, in-fighting and lacklustre turnouts for rallies would indicate a
tough electoral battle for the incumbent party.

But Mr Mugabe's party is
expected to take a two-thirds majority, thanks to a grossly inflated voters
roll and partisan administration of polling and vote-counting, according to
rights groups.

There will be interview / picture opportunities on
Saturday, 26th March when exiled Zimbabweans gather outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy in London to raise awareness ahead of the parliamentary
elections on 31st March.The
gathering is arranged by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which is
contesting the elections against Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF Party.The MDC in the
UK wants to draw attention to the failure of
the Mugabe regime to allow free and fair elections and the disenfranchisement of
half the electorate who have fled the country.

Among the invited speakers is Tom Brake, the Liberal
Democrat spokesman for International Development.

Time: 1 – 3 pm (followed by the regular Zimbabwe Vigil until
6 pm)

Contacts:

Washington Ali, Chair, MDC
UK District07786 646 071

Wiz Bishop07963 521 160

Rose Benton07970 996 003

Vigil
co-ordinators

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to
18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk

The United Methodist Church near Marondera, damaged earlier this month
when suspected supporters of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF regime torched the kitchen
section, is the second church to have been desecrated in this previously
productive Zimbabwean farming area east of Harare.

In the case of the first church, the little St Cross Anglican Church at
Hwedza in the same vicinity, the sanctuary was plundered and vandalised by
ZANU-PF thugs and the beautiful antique organ was stolen.

Sources said that the ZANU-PF minister responsible for youth training,
Elliot Manyika, had put out the word that party meetings should be held in
churches wherever possible in order to undermine the authority of the church in
Zimbabwe.

In the case of the United Methodist Church, people in the area believe it
was targeted because a commercial farmer who supported the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), had facilitated the building of the
church.

About ten years previously, the church women had asked Iain Kay, a farmer
who has always been committed to the upliftment of the people in the area, if
they could make bricks on the his farm using an anthill and farm water. Kay
connected irrigation pipes to the site and work began.

Every morning at first light the women would arrive, make a set number of
bricks and then return to their kumushas or communal homes to do their everyday
chores and work in their lands.

Kay supplied gumwood to them to fire the bricks. As they built the church
and money was available, the women bought window and doorframes, which Kay and
his wife, Kerry, collected and stored for them.

“The building of the church, the kitchen room and the minister’s room
were a labour of love,” said Kerry. “These women were part of the group I worked
with on HIV/AIDS education, counselling, and home and community based
care.”

In the early hours of the March morning when part of the church was
torched, a man who was guarding the building in the absence of the minister,
heard unknown voices. However, he only went to investigate when he saw that the
kitchen section was on fire.

A few metres from the church, a house also caught fire and the residents
managed to salvage a few belongings before the roof collapsed.

According to villagers, the likely reason for the arson was that ZANU-PF
supporters were not happy that locals were worshiping at a church built with the
assistance of an MDC official, especially a white person.

South African Council of Churches (SACC) envoy to Zimbabwe and Anglican
Bishop of KwaZulu-Natal Rubin Phillip, who visited the country recently, said
there was a sense of hopelessness among the ordinary people that the election
would be free and fair so as to usher in political change.

He said the country needed an independent electoral commission and that
the one in place, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, was terribly biased in
favour of the ruling party. He noted that the government-controlled airwaves
needed to be opened up to the opposition.

The Bishop also expressed disappointment that the Mugabe regime continues
to use food aid as a political weapon ahead of the election. The main opposition
MDC party accuses Mugabe of denying food aid to its supporters.

Critics of the severely flawed election process say that the church,
regarded as society’s voice of conscience, has, in many cases, been at the
forefront in criticising Mugabe’s human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

---------- ### ----------

About
Sokwanele:

Sokwanele - Zvakwana -
Enough is Enough is a peoples'
movement, embracing supporters of all pro-democratic political parties, civic
organizations and institutions.

Sokwanele - Zvakwana -
Enough is Enough will never aspire to political office.

Sokwanele - Zvakwana -
Enough is Enough is a peoples' force through which democracy will be restored to
the country and protected jealously for future generations to ensure that
Zimbabweans will never be oppressed again.

Sokwanele does not endorse the editorial policy of any source or website
except its own. It retains full copyright on its own articles, which may be
reproduced or distributed but may not be materially altered in any way.
Reproduced articles must clearly show the source and owner of copyright,
together with any other notices originally contained therein, as well as the
original date of publication. Sokwanele does not accept responsibility for any
loss or damage arising in any way from receipt of this email or use thereof.
This document, or any part thereof, may not be distributed for
profit.

A London businessman has been accused of
engaging in a deal to sell 20,000 stun batons to Zimbabwe in breach of arms
control legislation.In a sting operation, Mark Thomas, the comedian and
columnist for the New Statesman magazine, posed as a fictitious customer to
set up the deal with Tony Lee, a director of TLT International.

The
case has been passed to Customs.

Mr Lee said he was not aware of the
legislation. "I have not made any single transaction or any penny from it.
If I knew the relevant rules, I would not have tried at
all."

Stun
batons are criticised by Amnesty International as the "universal tool of the
torturer". The organisation says they cause extreme pain and leave no marks
on the victim.Kate Allen, Amnesty's UK director, called for an
investigation. In a report last week, the group said there had been
widespread and increasing violations of human rights in Zimbabwe, including
government-sponsored intimidation, arbitrary arrest and
torture.

Since 2002, companies in Britain and the rest of the EU have
been banned from selling to Zimbabwe weapons and equipment which could be
used for repression.

Last year, Mr Thomas noticed that TLT
International, based in Brockley, south London, was advertising stun batons
and stun guns online.

Posing as arms buyers, he and a colleague contacted
TLT, asking for a quote for 500 stun batons. Three days later, Mr Lee agreed
to provide the batons for £15.50 each. When Mr Thomas told Mr Lee the batons
were going to Zimbabwe, Mr Lee replied that this was "no problem".

Mr
Thomas said the batons were needed by the Zimbabwean security forces to
control subversives during elections.

Under the terms of the proposed
deal, the batons would be made in South Korea and sent to Zimbabwe without
touching British soil. Last May, the government banned so-called brokering
in which UK-based agents arrange the sale of military equipment from one
country to another.

At one point in the sting, Mr Lee wrote that the
batons were "quality". Later he said: "The stun baton do not need much
persuasions and explanation, it speaks by itself. Once your clients buy it,
they would love it." Later he entered into negotiations to increase the
order to 20,000 batons.

When Mr Thomas revealed the sting, Mr Lee said:
"I was truly not aware of any legislation or licensing on these products.
Please forgive me my ignorance on this."

Mr Lee told the Guardian he
did not want to discuss the matter further: "I was set up; I am an innocent
man."

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe wears a women's scarf during campaigning
for the March 31 elections. (AP Photo)

JOhannesburg - Zimbabwe's ageing President Robert
Mugabe presented a startling sight as he launched his party's election campaign
with a woman's scarf tied around his head.

The campaign for a parliamentary election that
critics have deplored as skewed by repressive laws and intimidation has seen a
flurry of measures aimed at uplifting women in Zimbabwe's fiercely patriarchal
society.

With little to show for nearly 25 years in power,
Mugabe's critics claim his women's outreach is just a ploy to burnish his image.

"He is a traditionalist with very little time for
women," said John Makumbe, a University of Zimbabwe political scientist.

"His volte face now is really a gimmick aimed at
capturing women's votes in the face of a persistent opposition challenge that is
threatening his government."

Mugabe does need to get out to chase the vote. His
party won just 62 of parliament's 120 elected seats in 2000, despite what
independent observers called widespread violence and rigging.

Not enough food

Earlier this month, Mugabe was forced to acknowledge
that the former regional breadbasket is no longer producing enough food to feed
itself, although he blamed four years of crippling drought for the crisis.

"He has no real achievements around the land issue,
so now he has to change his tune," Makumbe said in a telephone interview from
the United States, where he is a guest lecturer at Michigan State University.

Mugabe said he wore the green, black, yellow and red
scarf, which belongs to the women's league of his Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriot Front, to remind supporters at last month's rally that "if you
ignore women, you are gone".

Women make up 51% of Zimbabwe's 11.6 million people,
but hold just 13 of Parliament's 120 elected seats and three of the 30 appointed
by Mugabe.

Women say they also face discrimination in applying
for jobs, getting access to land and owning property.

In December, Mugabe appointed Joyce Mujuru as Zanu-PF
and the country's first woman vice-president.

His party has also fielded 30 female candidates in
the March 31 election in what it calls a serious bid to bring the country in
line with the Southern African Development Community's goal of filling 30% of
leadership posts with women.

However, secpticism is rife.

Excluded her main rival

Mujuru's appointment was seen less as an attempt to
advance women than a way of excluding her main rival, parliament speaker
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has made clear his ambition to succeed the 81-year-old
Mugabe.

"It was an opportunistic political appointment
dressed up as a progressive move by a party which has never demonstrated the
political will to ensure women are afforded their equal status in society," said
Lucia Matibenga, chairwoman of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's
women's assembly.

By Geoff
NyarotaLast updated: 03/25/2005 01:29:22THE proposal last week by the
publisher of the Zimbabwe Independent for the emergence of a third political
force in Zimbabwe made interesting reading. This is, however, not the first
time Trevor Ncube has articulated this suggestion.

So that he does
not remain a voice in the wilderness, while his enunciation of this noble
idea is reduced to an annual ritual, I rise in Ncube's
support.

Before doing so, however, I wish to express a view contrary
to his suggestion that President Robert Mugabe has become the only
Zimbabwean capable of solving the many serious problems that he has
personally created since attainment of our Independence 25 years
ago.

Notwithstanding Mugabe's sustained effort to build this aura of
indispensability around his own persona, I believe other Zimbabweans can
successfully implement programmes of meaningful change and take our country
to great heights of development, peace and prosperity. Mugabe cannot rule
forever.

For Mugabe to rescue Zimbabwe from its current doldrums
certain conditions must prevail. The president must raise the threshold of
his political tolerance and refocus his vision from the liberation struggle
to post-Independence national development. Zimbabwe would stand to benefit
if he regarded himself as more an elected president and less a hereditary
monarch, meanwhile reducing his level of the xenophobia that has turned our
country into a pariah state. But if his party can no longer put together an
election manifesto, as Ncube points out, it is unlikely that Mugabe can
formulate the required national rescue plan.

To entrench himself in
power, Mugabe has exploited the absence of certain fundamental political
ingredients which any serious alternative leadership would need to address
or initiate as a prerequisite for any meaningful programme of revolutionary
change.

Mugabe's track record as an effective leader of the armed
struggle is entirely without blemish. The economic and political performance
of Zimbabwe going back to Independence has, however, cast serious aspersions
on his credentials.

Likewise it may well turn out that Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai's courage in openly
challenging Mugabe and seeking to wrest the presidency from him through a
process of democratic change was his only great asset.

Instead of
exhibiting the dynamism and vibrancy of a young and progressive party, the
MDC has become moribund. Apart from the founding fathers and mothers it has
not attracted any new blood or talent, apart from Shakespeare Maya of NAAG,
whose arrival added little value to the MDC.

It is the premise of Ncube's
proposal that both Mugabe and Tsvangirai lack the visionary attributes to
lead Zimbabwe into a future of sustained development and prosperity.
However, what has kept Mugabe in power and Tsvangirai out of it has little
to do with their own intrinsic qualifications for the job of president and
qualities as politicians. Circumstances have played a considerable
role.

While Zanu PF has never been weaker as it enters next week's fray,
it is likely to emerge victorious. The forces campaigning against Mugabe's
dictatorship lack cohesion and unity of purpose.

Even the MDC has
ceased to be a homogenous organisation. Zimbabwe's opposition movement has
no shortage of supporters, well-wishers, strategists and indigenous
financial backers. However, the greater majority, fearful of the negative
ramifications of public association with the opposition, prefer to remain
closet advisors, dispensing advice by phone or e-mail.

The proposed third
force would, first and foremost, seek to overcome this deep-seated fear of
Zanu PF.

The legendary political apathy of Zimbabwe's middle class and
the burgeoning class of the super-rich is yet another obstacle. The working
class has exclusively sustained Zimbabwe's post-Independence campaign for
real independence.

It is the people of Mbare, Mpopoma and Chitungwiza
who buy the membership cards of the opposition political parties. They
attend the political rallies, join the protest marches and, more
importantly, turn out in large numbers to cast their ballot. It is they who
endure the hardship of tyranny and economic ruin.

The Welshman Ncubes
and the Tendai Bitis of Zimbabwe's opposition politics can be counted on the
fingers of one hand. For any third force to take root, the privileged
citizens living in the leafier sections of suburbia need to emerge from
their cocoon of political complacency, wherein they engage in endless
political discourse. Favourite subjects until South African President Thabo
Mbeki showed his true colours recently included why he was taking so long to
deliver salvation to Zimbabwe.

But perhaps, the greatest challenge that
such a new movement would confront is that of ethnic polarisation, which the
majority of citizens pretend does not exist when an abundance of evidence
exists. Before any new revolution can take off, it is essential that all
citizens recognise that they are Zimbabweans primarily and Ndebele or Shona
last.

The legacy of violence and intolerance bequeathed to Zimbabwe by
Zanu PF and PF Zapu going back to the 1960s cannot be allowed to take
permanent root in our national political psyche.

Ethnically inspired
political polarisation was the driving force behind the brutal massacre of
20 000 innocent Ndebele tribesmen two decades later. Today sections of the
Zimbabwean political community cite Gukurahundi while pursuing an ethnically
divisive agenda that would easily torpedo the prospects of any third
political force achieving meaningful success.

Radical Ndebele opinion
associates all Shona speakers with support for Gukurahundi. This, of course,
is absolute nonsense. It is equally absurd to link all white Zimbabweans
with the murderous military raids launched by the Rhodesian security forces
on guerilla training and refugee camps in Mozambique and Zambia. To
castigate modern Ndebeles with the predatory raids mounted on Mashonaland by
their ancestors more than 100 years ago is even more illogical.

If
the people of Zimbabwe were united in the fight against tyranny their task
would be easier. Expending their energy and resources in the senseless
pursuit of retrogressive agendas strengthens the hand of the
tyrants.

Jonathan Moyo, the mercurial former Information minister whose
credentials and qualities would contribute to national development if
properly utilised or harnessed, serves as a perfect example. He recently
invoked the ethnic spectre of Gukurahundi in his haste to launch himself as
an independent politician.

After he spent five years building and
lining his own nest through close proximity to Mugabe, once ejected from
Zanu PF Moyo suddenly remembered that his own father was massacred by the 5
Brigade. Those in whose ears such sentiments are music have rallied around
him in their thousands following this opportunistic disclosure.

One
does not need to be a rocket scientist, however, to perceive that for Moyo,
the long-term agenda is the renaissance of Zapu, with himself as the
successor to Dr Joshua Nkomo. But such an initiative, steeped in the
politics of the past as it would be, may potentially be ethnically divisive.
It possibly will not resonate well with the rest of a nation seeking to
redefine its vision of the future.

Any future leadership cannot take
over until they accept that Zimbabwe is a country for all its citizens. This
is where Zanu PF has failed.

If the three top commanders of the Zimbabwe
National Army hail from Tsholotsho and they are the best military brains in
the country then, by all means, let them run the army. Likewise, if the
entire teaching staff of Magwegwe Secondary School in Bulawayo comprises
members of the Manyika tribe, let them teach the future leaders of Zimbabwe,
as long as they are qualified, competent and, above all, can speak fluent
Ndebele.

Essentially, before any third force takes root, Zimbabweans need
to appreciate that it is they who will spearhead any process of change, not
the South Africans, the Nigerians, the British or the Americans. There is
much else that the international community can do to assist Zimbabwe to
achieve prosperity, especially in the area of investment.

The role of
the white community must also be addressed. They must sincerely join hands
with their compatriots. They cannot continue to live in two worlds. They
stand to benefit from the new revolution and must, like true patriots,
contribute to the new programme of national development.

But they should
desist from expecting that they will continue to play a primary role in the
frontline, determining the pace and direction of the revolution. One of the
causes of the decline in the appeal of the MDC was its obsession with
setting a quota for white people in its affairs, thus playing right into the
hands even of pseudo-revolutionaries.

Despite being democratic and
non-racial, many people on the African continent remain suspicious of the
role of their former oppressors in seeking to spearhead the new war against
oppression. This is the trump card that Mugabe exploits
successfully.Geoff Nyarota is the founding editor-in-chief of the Daily
News. He can be contacted at geoffrey_nyarota@ksg.harvard.edu

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's political parties have again
drawn election battle lines, only this time they are fighting it out with
loud, colourful TV adverts with the opposition allowed on state airwaves for
the first time.

President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party
has long dominated the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
(ZBC), the country's sole radio and TV broadcaster, which the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said was one of many factors
weighing against it in the polls.

But new electoral guidelines
adopted last year by the Southern African Development Community, to which
Zimbabwe belongs, said all parties should have equal access to state media,
paving the way for MDC broadcasts even though the party says Zimbabwe has
fallen short of fully meeting the guidelines.

As the fight for
votes heats up, Mugabe's ZANU-PF has packaged catchy and colourful jingles
denouncing former colonial power Britain and the MDC, while celebrating its
seizure of white-owned farms for landless black Zimbabweans.

ZANU-PF has flavoured its messages by showing bare-footed and bum-wriggling
women and youths as if calling voters to join in celebrating the
controversial land reforms.

In one advert, ZANU-PF mocks British
Prime Minister Tony Blair's involvement in the Iraq war and his "admission"
that his government was working with, among others, the MDC in trying to
resolve Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis.

In the
background a female voice sings softly: "Sell-outs you have no chance, lets
all go and vote and shame Blair and his sell-outs."

Mugabe, who has
dubbed this year's polls "anti-Blair elections" accuses the MDC of fronting
Western interests and has vowed ZANU-PF will deliver a victory that will
bury the MDC and shame critics of his 25-year-old rule.

THUMPING BEAT

But the MDC has entered the fray with its own
package, spicing up the TV campaign contest and giving something to look
forward to, for voters long bombarded by ZANU-PF adverts.

In
its package, played out in the two main local languages, Shona and Ndebele,
and English, the MDC's message for a "new beginning" for Zimbabwe is cranked
up with colourful scenes accompanied by a thumping musical beat.

A
huge chunk of roasted meat on a plate and fields with healthy green crops
are some of the images screened by the opposition to show voters what they
may hope for under the MDC.

The party, the biggest threat to
Mugabe's 25-year-old rule, took most urban seats in 2000 parliamentary
polls, but lost in ZANU-PF rural strongholds -- where televisions are
rare.

Critics say Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, in power since
independence from Britain in 1980, has turned ZBC into a private mouthpiece
to attack those opposing his rule.

MDC spokesman Paul
Themba-Nyathi said ZANU-PF still retained a tight grip on state media and
said the government deserved no praise for allowing the opposition airtime
on television.

"The government should not be rewarded for something
that it should have done long ago. In fact they should open up the airwaves
to more players," Themba-Nyathi said.

Zimbabwe enacted tough
media laws three years ago as Mugabe faced increased opposition in the face
of severe political and economic crises that critics blame on government
mismanagement.